Keating Wines Three - Pack
$49.99 + $5 shipping
Condition: Red
Products:
1 2006 Keating Rockpile Malbec
1 2007 Keating Rockpile Petite Sirah
1 2008 Keating Sonoma Valley Merlot
CT links above

Winery website

Keating on Facebook (updated link)
Keating on Twitter

What's typical of a Malbec?

Ah, 2008 and Sonoma Valley. I loved the conversation on the Blue Jay Pinot Noir regarding smoke taint, what's the story with this Merlot? Were these grapes unaffected or were methods taken to sequester the smokiness?

In for 2 (for the PS and Malbec). Ready and available to rat the PS especially

Mmmmmm, Rockpile. Great little appellation out in the boonies, especially if you like big wines.

I love PS from rockpile -- so dark and rich and delicious. The Rosenblum Rockpile Reserve PS is one of my favorites. Damn you, WD, I'm supposed to be not buying.

(grovel)

WD, a question, please. I got my birthday coupon in time for my birthday and Woot birthday (on the same day last month!) one day after a death in the family. For some reason I wasn't really thinking about using it, though under the circumstances I should have bought every wine available.

May I please oh please use it now?

(/grovel)

koneco wrote:What's typical of a Malbec?

Hi Koneco,
Malbec is one of the five traditional Bordeaux varieties and has similar characteristics to a Cabernet Sauvignon, but a bit brighter in flavor, similar acid structure, and somewhat lighter in body. Think of either a heavy Merlot or a light Cab.
My 2006 Rockpile Malbec fits that description, although it is closer to a Cab in my opinion. Beautiful flavors and a long, dry finish with ample tannins that make this a very good pairing wine with grilled meats.

silent7seven wrote:Ah, 2008 and Sonoma Valley. I loved the conversation on the Blue Jay Pinot Noir regarding smoke taint, what's the story with this Merlot? Were these grapes unaffected or were methods taken to sequester the smokiness?

Smoke taint was never a threat in most parts of Sonoma County (namely Sonoma Valley, SE corner). Sonoma Coast picked it up slightly in some areas, Mendocino county was hit the hardest (I believe the Blue Jay Pinot Noir is in Anderson Valley of Mendocino County.)
There is not a trace in this wine as the fires were never near Glen Ellen.
Although, there is a pleasant touch of cigar box spice from the barrels!

PetiteSirah wrote:In for 2 (for the PS and Malbec). Ready and available to rat the PS especially

I look forward to hearing your review of the Petite Sirah, especially considering your username.

Cesare... that Facebook page is not updated very frequently because the format was a little awkward.
This is a better Facebook Fanpage

Welcome Eric Keating! Keating wines on Twitter


So, these are not fruit bombs, then? Tannins, structure? Can you lay 'em down? Or will they just lay you down after one drinking!?

silent7seven wrote:Ah, 2008 and Sonoma Valley. I loved the conversation on the Blue Jay Pinot Noir regarding smoke taint, what's the story with this Merlot? Were these grapes unaffected or were methods taken to sequester the smokiness?

Funny you brought that up again...that Blujay had some brushfire smokiness to it but I just can't seem to get enough of it??

Cheers!

tytiger58 wrote:Funny you brought that up again...that Blujay had some brushfire smokiness to it but I just can't seem to get enough of it??

Cheers!

The Roessler winery guy claimed that smokiness was from the oak... you didn't buy that? Anyway, their filtering seems to have worked given everyone loves it almost as much as the 07. Waiting to try mine when I get back to CA.

richardhod wrote:Keating wines on Twitter

So, these are not fruit bombs, then? Tannins, structure? Can you lay 'em down? Or will they just lay you down after one drinking!?

I try to find a balance between heavy fruit and nice acid & tannin structure. I don't believe my wines will ever become "fruit-bombs" as I make sure and harvest before the fruit becomes overripe (which results in a porty, sweet taste that some people love, but I am not particularly fond of).
The alcohol levels of the Rockpile wines are:
Petite Sirah- 14.3%
Malbec- 14.5%
Pretty mild considering the climate.

As far as laying them down, the Petite Sirah will go very long. It is a dark, big wine with healthy tannins. My estimated optimal window on that wine is 2014-2018 (with potential to go longer). Shave off a couple of years for the Malbec.

They are still approachable now, but I would recommend simply decanting the wine for a bit.

Holy God this is a good deal. $105 for these three before shipping, and shipping is around $27. The PS is $38 normally, the Merlot $25, and the Malbec $42. 58% off.

Edit: MATH IS HARD.

richardhod wrote:The Roessler winery guy claimed that smokiness was from the oak... you didn't buy that? Anyway, their filtering seems to have worked given everyone loves it almost as much as the 07. Waiting to try mine when I get back to CA.

Crap. I was hoping to put Blue Jay out my mind for a while so that I hold on to most the '08 bottles for a good while. If everyone else is opening some of theirs already I might sneak one out.

I don't want to be rude talking too much about Roessler on Keating's first Woot appearance though, so back to it!

EricKeating wrote:I try to find a balance between heavy fruit and nice acid & tannin structure. I don't believe my wines will ever become "fruit-bombs" as I make sure and harvest before the fruit becomes overripe (which results in a porty, sweet taste that some people love, but I am not particularly fond of).
The alcohol levels of the Rockpile wines are:
Petite Sirah- 14.3%
Malbec- 14.5%
Pretty mild considering the climate.

As far as laying them down, the Petite Sirah will go very long. It is a dark, big wine with healthy tannins. My estimated optimal window on that wine is 2014-2018 (with potential to go longer). Shave off a couple of years for the Malbec.

They are still approachable now, but I would recommend simply decanting the wine for a bit.

Great, thanks! I hoped as much. Are the Merlot (you didn't really talk about the Merlot!) and Malbec - both being lighter more approachable for drinking now then? And do your Bordeaux leanings lend something to the making of these wines?

Re climate, yes the alcohol looks pretty reasonable for a CA wine indeed. What is the climate like for you? Rockpile seems like pretty cool mountains rather than a hot valley acc to the data from the rockpile association gcdyersb posted above. I am frequently wrong, but I'd gathered that high alcohol levels in wines tended to come from hotter regions (like UCDavis scale III).
Sonoma Coast may be warmer, of course.

rockpile:
Average Temperature: 10-15º cooler than Dry Creek Valley
Average rainfall: 50-73"
Wind Influence: Constant breezes of 3-5 mph; more commonly, the onshore flow feeds the area with sustained gusts of 10-15 mph.

richardhod wrote:Great, thanks! I hoped as much. Are the Merlot and Malbec, being lighter more approachable for drinking now then? And do your Bordeaux leanings lend something to the making of these wines too?

Re climate, What is the climate like for you? Rockpile seems like pretty cool mountains rather than a hot valley acc to the data from the rockpile association posted above. I am frequently wrong, but I'd gathered that high alcohol levels tendd to come from hotter regions (like UCDavis scale III).
Sonoma Coast may be warmer, of course.

rockpile:
Average Temperature: 10-15º cooler than Dry Creek Valley
Average rainfall: 50-73"
Wind Influence: Constant breezes of 3-5 mph; more commonly, the onshore flow feeds the area with sustained gusts of 10-15 mph.

You're welcome, Richard.
Rockpile is an interesting AVA. The reason red wines flourish there and alcohol levels can get high is because of the constant sun exposure (800' above Lake Sonoma is the minimum because that is the natural fogline) and dry, rocky soils. What counteracts this is the slightly cooler temperatures than the neighboring Dry Creek Valley. I love to mention that is is about 10-15 degrees cooler on average... thanks for pointing that out. Moreover, this slight coastal influence that cascades over the mountains not only cools the area slightly, but maintains a light, consistent breeze (to help avoid any threat of rot). It really is an ideal place to grow fruit if you (a) watch it closely, and (b) don't mind walking up and down those steep, rocky slopes!

I like this combination of wines, so I'm in for two. I promised myself I wasn't going to buy more wine prior to my vacation, but how can I pass this up!

Thanks for the twitter link, I'm now following you.

EricKeating wrote:You're welcome, Richard.
Rockpile is an interesting AVA. The reason red wines flourish there is because of the constant sun exposure (800' above Lake Sonoma is the minimum because that is the natural fogline) and dry, rocky soils. What counteracts this is the slightly cooler temperatures than the neighboring Dry Creek Valley. I love to mention that is is about 10-15 degrees cooler on average... thanks for pointing that out. Moreover, this slight coastal influence that cascades over the mountains not only cools the area slightly, but maintains a light, consistent breeze (to help avoid any threat of rot). It really is an ideal place to grow fruit if you (a) watch it closely, and (b) don't mind walking up and down those steep, rocky slopes!

... "if you don't mind walking up" beautiful mountains day in day out?!!

I'd be up and down all day. Any fields, er... rocks for sale in the area?

richardhod wrote:... "if you don't mind walking up" beautiful mountains day in day out?!!

I'd be up and down all day. Any fields for sale in the area?

Touche'

Harvest time is fantastic, and even when working hard it's tough not to take a minute and realize how beautiful wine country truly is.

Eric i love the fact that you are on here so early - makes it so much easier to talk myself into buying. thank you so much!

i'm in for 2.

i'm also throwing my name in the hat to be a labrat for this one as well if i could be so lucky. thanks!

peterabbits wrote:Eric i love the fact that you are on here so early - makes it so much easier to talk myself into buying. thank you so much!

i'm in for 2.

i'm also throwing my name in the hat to be a labrat for this one as well if i could be so lucky. thanks!

You're welcome, Pete... and thank you. I think you will be happy that you talked yourself into it.

EricKeating wrote:Touche'

Harvest time is fantastic, and even when working hard it's tough not to take a minute and realize how beautiful wine country truly is.

I shall be visiting wine country in the summer. I hope to make it somewhere near your area, for verification purposes! I hope there's a tasting room etc...

Looks as if I might be in for the full monty. Again. WD, now I've finished all my clarets in England, you're solely responsible for my cellar, save for my vintage ports and a couple of gift bottles. I'm going to need a proper outsourced hosted cellar very soon.

PhilSandifer wrote:Holy God this is a good deal. $105 for these three before shipping, and shipping is around $27. The PS is $38 normally, the Merlot $25, and the Malbec $42. 42% off.

Its actually an amazing 58% off, including shipping.

For the winemaker, you use a lot of French oak, although thankfully only about a third new. What's the thought process behind your choices?

merbill wrote:Its actually an amazing 58% off, including shipping.

For the winemaker, you use a lot of French oak, although thankfully only about a third new. What's the thought process behind your choices?

I prefer French Oak for my Bordeaux varieties, I use a decent amount of American Oak for my Petite Sirah & Zinfandels (coming soon), and a couple of barrels on the 2008 Merlot.

Using only seasoned and neutral oak limits a wine in my opinion, so I use some new to enhance the wine's structure, aroma, and ageability. I typically use 25-40% on my Sonoma County Bordeauxs, but use 60-80% on my one Napa Beckstoffer Georges III Cabernet (I used 67% on my first vintage and honestly think it could handle 100%).

Too little oak makes a wine light and acidic, but some will take that risk to cut costs.
Too much oak makes a wine heavy, dark, and almost taste burnt.

I have heard a couple analogies on new oak. The most common is comparing it to adding salt to a meal. Too little, it tastes bland; too much, it's inedible.

A local winemaker, Chris Loxton, gave me an analogy I like more. He compares new oak to a frame on a fine painting. The frame enhances the work of art, but if the frame becomes to overbearing, you won't even notice the painting. And of course, if the frame is cheap & shabby, the painting adopts that feeling as well.

*by the way, I am fortunate enough to source my seasoned barrels from one of the most reputable wineries in California. Used once for Chardonnay only. Quality used barrels are very important also, and often overlooked.

merbill wrote:Its actually an amazing 58% off, including shipping.

For the winemaker, you use a lot of French oak, although thankfully only about a third new. What's the thought process behind your choices?

Possibly, but what are the "street prices"?

richardhod wrote:Possibly, but what are the "street prices"?

A few minutes only netted me a hit for the 2006 Malbec for $40.

I must resist this amazing looking offer. SIWBM must stand at least until I get to Sonoma on Saturday.

Upcoming Woot Wine Gatherings…All The News for the week of May 16.
Visit our Wine.Woot Event Calendar on Google Calendar!

May
5/29: Detroit #7: Woot Cellars Celebration
5/29: Dallas #7.75314: BBQ and Bordeaux
5/29: Colorado #4 / Wyoming #1: Fireworks in the Snow

June
6/5: Ohio #3: Scott Harvey’s in Town
6/6: NorCal #5: Picnic in Livermore
6/26: NYC/LI #14: Way, way, way East
6/26: Dallas #8: Eden

July
7/20-22: RPM’s Historical Wine Tour
7/31: Connecticut Clambake #2: An Annual Tradition

August
8/20-22: Second Annual Sip & Sail (NYC)

Looking for some helping hands:

• Central NC Interest Thread

I'm in for three. What? You say I can't order any?


Oh, come on, already! What's up with the ban on Tennessee? Each new Woot day I get all prepared to place an order, only to find....no Tennessee.

Have we been blacklisted? Did we do something to make the Woot god angry?

This is bad - I've been craving a big, meaty wine ever since popping a bottle of the Roessler on Saturday (which, while decent, was a little thin for my tastes), but want to hold on to the last two Wellingtons I have and was hoping to put a bit of a halt to my buying spree. So naturally, this comes along, and is an amazing deal to boot. Le sigh. In for two, for which I'll surely get in trouble (though since I spent all day yesterday cleaning the apartment, I may have some leverage).

Also, I've never seen anyone who asked to be ratted actually get ratted (except for the baby daddy a couple weeks ago), but I feel compelled to offer my services. It will be chilly and damp here for the next three days and I just put a couple New York strips in the fridge to marinate in olive oil, some hickory smoked sea salt from back home, and this wonderful stuff. They would love to give their lives for any of these wines.

I have a lot of interest in the Rockpile AVA - I am in for 3 and would love to rat for the first time as I will be in my office all week!

Thank you to Mr. Keating for joining and adding so early on - I really look forward to receiving these wines.

In for 3 and ready to rat. These sound like big wines and I like big wines and big wimmen. Especially big wines. Well, specifically big wines. I made up the part about big wimmen.

(sigh) Just ship the stuff and stop staring at me.

EricKeating wrote:Using only seasoned and neutral oak limits a wine in my opinion, so I use some new to enhance the wine's structure, aroma, and ageability. I typically use 25-40% on my Sonoma County Bordeauxs, but use 60-80% on my one Napa Beckstoffer Georges III Cabernet (I used 67% on my first vintage and honestly think it could handle 100%).

Too little oak makes a wine light and acidic, but some will take that risk to cut costs.
Too much oak makes a wine heavy, dark, and almost taste burnt.

. . .

*by the way, I am fortunate enough to source my seasoned barrels from one of the most reputable wineries in California. Used once for Chardonnay only. Quality used barrels are very important also, and often overlooked.

This is a more general question, but what sort of process does new oak go through before being used? Is it toasted, tempered, sent to a day spa for a little massage and aromatherapy? I brewed a porter once using toasted oak which not only turned out fantastic, but you could definitely discern the smokiness that the toasting added. Can/do winemakers vary the process based on the type of wine they're making, or the sort of flavors they want?

And since you mentioned it, I'll bite - what determines the quality of a used barrel, and what sort of effect can the type of wine a barrel was used for before have (e.g., what if you made these wines using barrels previously used for Cab instead of Chardonnay)?

(And, if you're feeling really chatty - sub-question, what's the real difference between French and American oak?)

Thanks in advance, and thanks for what look like really incredible wines!

silent7seven wrote:Crap. I was hoping to put Blue Jay out my mind for a while so that I hold on to most the '08 bottles for a good while. If everyone else is opening some of theirs already I might sneak one out.

I don't want to be rude talking too much about Roessler on Keating's first Woot appearance though, so back to it!

Sorry to keep this thread-jack going, but I just wanted to assuage silent7seven's fears - I put my full notes on CT, but long story short, you're on the right track. I think the Bluejay needs another year or so to really come into its own. It was way too astringent for me out of the bottle, and still hadn't completely opened up as we finished it several hours later. I may pop another one some time this summer, but I plan to hold two (of my four) through to at least next year.

Vermont gets snubbed again! It's becoming a recurring and very distressing trend at wine.woot lately...

Small production, early and active participation by the winemaker, Petite Sirah in the mix... sigh.. in for 2. Available.

Seriously... WD... finally solve my storage problem and get all of my wine out of their shipping boxes... and then you go on this bender of hard to resist wines. Next thing you know Cathy will be back.

Rockpile huh? Darn! I was really planning to be "good" and not buy, but one of our favorite wineries (Paradise Ridge) has a couple of Rockpile wines they do and they're all great. This is a really tempting offer.

Must keep repeating SIWMO, SIWMO, SIWMO ... will probably cave long before the rat deadline.